pretty_mommy wants to know:
What should I feed my Jack Dempsey when it comes to live fish? And how often? Goldfish, minnows, guppies? Everyday, once a week?
I have my own breeding guppies that I take very good care of- so I am not concerned with the conditions that they are kept in.
What should I feed my Jack Dempsey when it comes to live fish? And how often? Goldfish, minnows, guppies? Everyday, once a week?
I have my own breeding guppies that I take very good care of- so I am not concerned with the conditions that they are kept in.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:36 am
1. Feeder fish
2. no idea
July 14th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
feeding live fish can bring about health problems with fish such as hole in the head disease. i feeder fish often carry parasites or are themselves diseased. i would recommend a good pellet food and a frozen food such as mysis shrimp or bloodworms for a younger jack and maybe some krill for a larger one. feeder fish on occasion most likely will not harm your fish, but personally i have had better success without using them.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:31 am
You should try and avoid feeding them live fish. You can feed them other frozen foods that they will enjoy like beef heart, blood worms, brine shrimp. Live feeder fish usually are kept in dirty conditions and may carry disease.
We have 3 jack dempseys and have never given them live fish, but they love the foods as treats I have listed. You can feed them treats a couple times a week if you wish.
Edit: Feeding them live fish does not really have much nutritional value, which is why we choose not to feed them to our fish. We try and keep a diet high in vitamins and minerals for them. As a matter of fact we have done significant research on all our types of fish we keep to know what works best for them. If you want to raise guppies for them to eat, it would be better than getting them from a pet store, but then again, only give them once a week or less as they still have no high nutritional value for them.
July 18th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
If you want to minimize the risk of bringing disease into you tank you can set up your own little feeder colony. Set up a basic 10 gal tank(sponge filter only, don’t want babies going up into the filter) and FILL it with java moss or hornwort, then pick out a good bunch (they healthiest you can find) of wild-type ‘feeder guppies’, mostly females, then let them do their thing. The babies they produce can go into your cichlid tank once they reach full size (maximum food potential!). Platies could work equally well, are bigger, but reproduce a bit slower.
How often depends on your budget. I’m sure your Jack would be thrilled with nothing but live foods but he would still benefit from a good live meal once a week or so with high quality pellets and frozen foods in between.
I don’t think you should use goldies. Not high in nutrients and very likely to carry diseases. Buying any feeder is a risk, what with all the medications and stress and other fish they are exposed to. Much better to raise your own if you can.
Your fishy will love you for the live food!
July 20th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Shrimp are the only “safe” live food available, because “feeder fish” will make your fish ill in long term feeding, unless you have time and space to quarentine them in a seperate tank for at-least a week. In that case, guppy is the best feeder fish as its low on fat and no hard bones.
I personally consider Daphnia (water fleas), one of the top live food choices. They carry none of the diseases that tubifex or feeder fish do, are an excellent source of nutrition for all fish, and can be raised fairly easily.
The best part of offering Daphnia is the fact that they can live in the aquarium until the fish eat them.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:50 pm
CC is on the right track here and she’s given you the best input by far. In smaller sized fish, and I say, smaller by comparison to other carnivores out there, guppies may work out quite well. Larger carnivores will do just as well using supermarket bought smelts that you can buy in bulk for lower prices, freeze and just thaw out.
There is a company I am personally familiar with JEHMCO which I’ve bought food from before. They carry a large line of diversified products out there. This man happens to personally have a 7 year old Jardini in one of his show tanks. I met him personally as our company installed a PV solar system for his residence, and we’re doing a commerical system for his business, fish food. What I learned from him about the benefits of a balanced diet have paid off for me ten fold when it comes to my African cichilds.
The idea is, offering a base diet of something like spiralina flakes is best, or a well balanced pellet. This being your staple say 3-4 times feeding a week is optimal to keep good health of your JD. Suppliment that with live food such as the mentioned shrimps, and examples of those are brine shrimp, decapsulated brine shrimp, cyclops shrimp, regular store bought shrimp that is cut up. Bloodworms make an example of a good food that offers high protien count with little bad nutrients. Feeder fish, in your case, home grown guppy fry is much better then store bought, but do not make this your staple food. 1-2 times a week should be suffecient for your JD. Excessive feeder feedings can lead to bloat, or intestinal blockage for one, and fish can have bad cholestorol believe it or not. You could use feeder fish as a treat, but very much not recommended as a staple food.